1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a burner that can be adapted to indirect or direct heating apparatus and drying apparatus for use in a vehicle mounting an internal combustion engine or such a vehicle as a trailer, in a room of a house, in a drying room, and in an office.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many cases, so far, the room in a vehicle is heated by taking out the cooling water of an internal combustion engine through a hot water pipe, introducing the water into a heater to indirectly exchange the heat, and blowing the hot air into the room. There has also been proposed a heating apparatus for automobiles for heating the room by the heat generated by a burner which is installed independently of the internal combustion engine (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 252018/1985). There has further been proposed a device for warming the engine, in which the combustion gas of the burner is supplied to an intake port of the engine via a heat exchanger, and the air heated by the heat exchanger is guided into the room (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 79864/1986). When the room is to be heated by utilizing the cooling water of the internal combustion engine, an extended period of time is required before the heater blows the hot air, since the temperature of the cooling water rises slowly. During this period, the heater exhibits almost no heating function. Further, the above-mentioned heating apparatus for automobiles that employs a burner independently of the internal combustion engine and the device for warming the engine require the time and laborious work for adjusting the period of combustion and treating the exhaust gases, and further require complex mechanism and a control device.
There has further been proposed a burner as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 201856/1985 that was filed by the applicant of the present invention. This burner will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. FIG. 3 illustrates a burner 40 which has a fuel inlet groove 48 provided in the surface where a porous atomizing member 42 and a fuel heating plate 41 are superposed, the fuel inlet groove 48 communicating with a fuel inlet port 45. The burner 40 consists of a combustion cylinder 47 composed of a ceramic that is installed in a housing 46. An atomizing member 42 is arranged at an end of the combustion cylinder 47, and a combustion gas outlet port 49 is formed at the other end. The air for combustion is blown into a combustion chamber 50 through air inlet ports 52 as it is introduced from an air duct 51 via an air introducing path 54. A glow plug 44 for ignition is installed in the combustion chamber 50. With reference to FIG. 4, a heating wire 43 with terminals 53 is buried in the fuel heating plate 41. With reference to FIG. 5, a plurality of fuel inlet grooves 48 formed in the atomizing member 42 are extending from the fuel inlet port 45 that communicates with the fuel feeding pipe 55. This burner suppresses the unatomized fuel from staying in the atomizing member that corresponds to the wick in order to prevent the generation of white smoke when the combustion is discontinued, but leaves problems with regard to atomizing the fuel, igniting the atomized fuel, preventing the flame from being blown out, and stability in the distribution of the flame.